EU EU
funding for network developing surveillance, intelligence-gathering
and remote vehicle stopping tools15.01.2015The
European Commission is to give significant financial backing
to a European police technology network that is currently looking
at ways to improve "best practices" across the EU in
automatic number plate recognition, intelligence-gathering, video
surveillance systems, and remote vehicle stopping.

A spokesperson for the Commission's Directorate-General
for Home Affairs has confirmed to Statewatch that the
European Network of Law Enforcement Technology Services (ENLETS)
will receive 500,000 for its work in 2015, the same amount
foreseen in an ENLETS document from November 2014 outlining the
network's progress "and the need to improve the use of its
potential to full extent." [1]

Other entities being directly funded by
the Commission in 2015 through the Internal Security Fund - Police
are ATLAS (a network of Member States' police special forces),
which will get 1.6 million; [2] ENFSI (the European Network
of Forensic Science Institutes), which will get 1.5 million;
and SSCAT (the Syria Strategic Communications Advisory Team),
due to receive 1 million.

Currently, ENLETS is funded by contributions
from the UK and the Netherlands worth 53,000, and has received
587,000 from the Commission to carry out a project called
'ENLETS Disseminates Best Practices' (EDBP). This focuses on
automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), open source intelligence,
signals intelligence, video surveillance, and remotely stopping
vehicles.

New funding will likely be used for activities
foreseen in the November 2014 document: a full-time Core Group
and associated administrative support, as well as half-time National
Contact Points (NCPs) in each Member State's police force. NCPs
are described as "the undisputed basis of the ENLETS network."
[3]

Tools for the job

The prominence of the European Network
of Law Enforcement Technology Services (ENLETS) has grown considerably
in recent years. In July 2013 the EU's Justice and Home Affairs
Council approved conclusions setting ENLETS a number of tasks,
with the primary goal of "strengthening the internal security
authorities' involvement in security-related research and industrial
policy." [4]

The ENLETS 'Core Group', made up of representatives
from Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland,
Romania, Finland and the UK, considers that new financing will
provide "a more solid basis to fully implement the Council
Conclusions".

It is currently unknown what the network
intends to focus on in the future. In September 2012 drones and
"protective vest/materials and non-lethal weapons"
were agreed as "priority areas", alongside the technologies
examined in the EDBP project, but the network is oblied to review
its priorities on an annual basis. [5]

Other interests can be inferred from project
proposals, although the detail are unknown. During 2014 the network
was refused EU funding for projects on "Cybercrime and Telecommunication"
and robotics. [6]

ENLETS is one of 18 sub-groups that report
to the Law Enforcement Working Party, a working group of the
Council of the European Union. [7]

Security research

The ENLETS 'Core Group Leader', Dutch police
official Patrick Padding, also chairs the Secure Societies Advisory
Group. This is said to "provide consistent and consolidated
advice to the Commission services during the preparation of the
Horizon 2020 work programme".

Horizon 2020 is the EU's 77 billion
research budget, and 1.8 billion is available from 2014-2020
for the security research programme. Padding's position is described
in a report on ENLETS' September meeting as:

"unabatedly important for ENLETS.
The connection to industry and research results in mutual understanding
and increased flow of end-user demands." [8]

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